After The One
by Specks10
Summary: First Snowbarry story! Fits both characters' POV, but I'm going with Barry. So, Barry is single and a little bit in love with Caitlin. However, he had been in love with Iris and the idea of a life with her for so long that it's making him deny that he loves Caitlin, and that he can move on and let himself be happy with her. Read and review! Angst, sort of.


Author's Note: Hi, guys! Hope you all had a good week. So, this is my first ever Snowbarry story. It's really just a quick, unplanned drabble that came to me, and uh, I just had to write it. Due to my right to creative liberty, Iris and Barry didn't go a long way as a couple in this universe and hence didn't get married. I feel like this could be either Barry's or Caitlin's POV, but I'm leaning more towards Barry. So, Barry is single, not hung up on Iris exactly, and a little bit in love with Caitlin. However, he had been in love with Iris for so long that the idea of a life with her is making him deny that he loves Caitlin, and that he can move on and let himself be happy with her. I don't know, I tried keeping it close to reality?

Also, yes, not the best name for this fic. Couldn't think of anything better.

Please read and review! Constructive criticism is very much welcomed, but insulting and offensive comments won't be as fun to respond to. I hope you guys like this!

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When will you understand that Iris is not **IT** for you? She is not **The One**.

Or maybe she is… but there is something that comes after that IT. Some **ONE** waiting for you after The One… after all your hopes and dreams of being with your IT have been crushed. And maybe, _**just**_ maybe, this new someone holds the patience, strength, and all the love in the world to get you back to the start. Back to square one. Though this time square one does not mean a world of pain and heartbreak stemming from rejection by the one person you have always imagined growing old with. This time, going back to the start means happiness with someone who has waited a _**long**_ time for you. To make you happy. To _be_ happy. To love and be loved. Someone who has been falling in love with you from far away, since before the one you thought was your forever started seeing you as a potential non-platonic object of affection. Someone who fixes you up every time you need mending even when she bitingly told you once not to expect her to patch you up every time you break something. Someone who started smiling again after the worst nine months of her life because you woke up and thawed her out. Someone who has never been as angry as you make her. Not because she does not like you, but _**because**_ she does; she worries for your safety – she is terrifyingly frightened by your recklessness and blatant disregard for your own life when it comes to saving people. Yet there is an equal amount of care, loyalty, kindness, sincerity, and compassion behind all her hard glances and firmness. She has been here since **Day One.**

Yes, after a couple of years of mostly being taken for granted combined with heartbreak she suffered when she let other men enter her life so she could let you go, she strayed a little. Struggled with her newly found powers and went off to join the dark side – which happened to be led by none other than an evil version of you, Barry Allen (such a _shocker_!). And you were nowhere to be found… when she needed you the most, even just as her best friend, you were too busy. You did not have time for your friends; perhaps you had also strayed a bit, and changed, under all the pressure. She was angry, initially, but she has since learnt not to blame you. She knows you carry the world on your shoulders and that you already have enough guilt and regrets to last you a lifetime. She knows now that you are sorry. You are a changed man now – she understands because she has changed, too, in ways she cannot comprehend yet – but you have gone back to being the caring and attentive friend she missed.

Problem is, that the one thing that has not changed for her, is that she is still in love with you. She has tried _**so**_ _**hard**_ to let you go. Tried falling in love twice and failed both times. Cruel reminder: love cannot be forced. If it could be, Iris would have fallen in love with you in all the years since you first met her and in the four months you guys dated.

 _ **Or**_ you would have put your Iris blinders off and seen _**her**_ there. Right next to you, in front of you, totally in sync with you as you move around STAR Labs and Central City striving to protect its people as Barry Allen, the CSI, and The Flash. You would see her there as Dr. Caitlin Snow, personal physician to The Flash, and Killer Frost, the hero.

You would see her there, a cocoon of warmth and love, of gentleness and firmness. As someone who is guarded yet vulnerable, who broke yet fixed herself up all on her own. As someone whose doe eyes, whether brown or blue, are so full of love for you that you could drown in them. Coming up for air would mean breathing in more love and there would still be a whole lot left. You would see her there and fall in love with her without even trying to. She would not have to do anything, either. Just being herself would be enough. And let us be honest, you are already somewhat in love with Caitlin, because how could you be not after all that you have been through? After all those quiet smiles and talks, sacrifices, the saving-each-other thing, and the pure gentleness you treat each other with? There is an air of love around the two of you.

If only you would _**see**_ her there quickly enough (talk about irony, Flash).

Before all hope of Barry Allen falling _**wholly**_ and _**absolutely**_ in love with Caitlin Snow is lost.


End file.
